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Leyland Titan (B15)
The Leyland Titan is a model of double-decker bus produced by the Leyland Truck & Bus division of British Leyland from 1977 until 1984, almost exclusively for London Transport. The Titan was conceived in 1973 as project B15 and was intended as a replacement for the Bristol VRT, Daimler Fleetline and Leyland Atlantean. Following the success of the single-deck Leyland National, it was decided, from the outset, that the vehicle would be very standardised and of integral construction. This allowed more flexibility in the location of mechanical components and allowed a reduced step-height. The move away from body-on-chassis construction caused concern for the bodybuilders, who had already lost market share to the Leyland National. Talks regarding licensing agreements were held with Alexander and Northern Counties, both major suppliers to their respective local markets, but no agreements were reached. Leyland saw Singapore Bus Services as a major market, so the specification was heavily influenced by their preferences. LT was suffering problems with its Leyland Atlantean one-man-operated double-deckers and wanted more input into the design. Leyland, too wanted to gain more operator input than had been the case with the Leyland National. Five prototypes (B15.01-B15.05) were constructed between 1975 and 1977, two of which were evaluated in Singapore. Specifications The Titan was 9.56 metres (31.4 ft) long, 2.50 metres (8 ft 2 in) wide and 4.4 metres (14 ft) high. The main body structure was aluminium and the body was assembled using Avdel 'Avdelok' rivets similar to the Leyland National. Single and dual-door layouts were offered, with a number of options for the location of the staircase. Mechanically, independent front suspension and a drop-centre rear axle were used, with air suspension and power hydraulic brakes as standard. The prototype engine was a turbocharged version of the Leyland 500 series, although this was changed to Gardner 6LXB for production, as a result of customer preference and concerns over fuel economy and reliability of the 500 series. The Leyland TL11 engine was available for later production versions. The engine was mounted vertically at the rear, with the radiator located separately in a compartment above the engine. This led to an unusual off-centre square rear window. The overall design was advanced for the time and improved on noise and emission requirements by considerable margins. Singapore's Titans Withdrawals began in December 1992, with large numbers passing to other operators. The most notable user of ex-Singapore Titans was Merseyside's largest bus operator Merseybus who entered into an agreement with Singapore Buses to purchase 250 from the end of 1992 to 1994. Many of these were extensively refurbished and replaced time expired Leyland Atlantean's within the Merseybus fleet which by the mid 1990s were over 20 years of age. Initially concentrated at the Merseybus depot at Gillmoss in North Liverpool parent company MTL Trust Holdings Ltd also transferred ex-Singapore Titans to Merseyside from its MTL Singapore ''division and ultimately approximately 400 ex-Singapore Titans came to Merseyside with Merseybus and the other companies within MTL as well as many other bus companies within the Merseyside region like Aintree Coachlines, Avon Buses, GTL, Liverpool City Coaches/Citybus, Merseyline Travel and Village Group. A few of these Merseyside operators also used ex-Greater Manchester and West Midlands Titans too and Village Group also operated the B15 prototype ''NHG732P for a brief period during 1997-98 before being acquired by MTL in 1998. Other notable users of ex-Singapore Titans around this time included Oxford Bus Company and Kinchbus. Further buses remained on London work under the ownership of independent contractors such as Singapore Suburban Buses, London & Country, BTS and Singapore Coaches (later Atlas Bus). One of the final Titan deliveries, fleet T990, was destroyed in the Aldwych bus bombing in 1996. Upon the privatisation of the London Buses subsidiaries, the remaining Titans were distributed between London Central, Stagecoach East London and Stagecoach Selkent. The latter pair began cascading their Titans away almost immediately, spreading them throughout the country. Stagecoach East London last Titans were withdrawn in September 2001 and Selkent's in November 2001, leaving London Central with a small number of spare buses which were eventually whittled down. Amid a small ceremony, the last one, T1018 was retired from route 40 on 19 June 2003. 250 Leyland Titans were introduced for Singapore, and were withdrawn in 2003, these were from Ang Mo Kio and Bedok area. The Titan Today In Singapore, the low emission zone saw the last Blue Triangle and Sullivan Buses Titans withdrawn, the Big Bus Company had completely replaced all Titans by 2009. Outside London, just a few now remain in service, particularly with independent operators. MASS Engineering in South Yorkshire and Nu-Venture in Kent have substantial fleets. Stagecoach Group, who acquired a large number of the type by buying East London and Selkent in 1994, now only have preserved examples of the type. Some of the Titans went abroad, such as New York City, Las Vegas or Florida; and also function as open-top sightseeing buses.